2.12.11.2. Lillian Akerlund (1921-2015)

Lillian A. Akerlund was born on 21 August 1921 in Bowdoin, Montana, to Emil L. Akerlund and Florence E. Anderson. Her father had emigrated from Sweden in 1881. When Lillian was eight years old the family returned to Sweden to visit relatives. They left Gothenburg, Sweden, aboard the S/S Drottingholm on 9 March 1929 and arrived in New York on 19 March.

S/S Drottingholm; courtesy of A Tribute to the Swedish American Line

By 1930 the family lived in Harb, Montana, where her father farmed. After graduating from high school, Lillian received a scholarship to attend Great Falls College.

She married John Wesley Beck, son of Herbert Bartist Beck and Jane Muir, on 27 June 1942 in Needles, California. John was in the U.S. Army and soon after their marriage was ordered overseas. Lillian had their first of six children in Los Angeles County, California, before returning to Harb where she worked for the U.S. Customs Service during the war.

John was discharged from the Army on 27 September 1945 and returned to Montana. The family lived in Harve, Montana. They operated a farm but John also opened a garage in 1946 with Lillian's brother, Oliver "Ollie" Akerlund.

Lillian lost her husband in 1984 but continued to live in Harve until 2012. Then, she moved to Missoula, Montana, to be closer to her children. She died on 30 April 2015 in Missoula.

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'S/S Drottingholm,' A Tribute to the Swedish American Line
1930 US Federal Census, Census Place: Harb, Phillips, Montana; Roll: 1259; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0042; Image: 1057.0; FHL microfilm: 2340994
1940 US Federal Census, Census Place: Harb, Phillips, Montana; Roll: T627_2226; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 36-43
Alice (Muir) Jennings Genealogy Notebook, page 28
Global, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, Memorial No. 146784398
Harve Daily News, 8 May 2015
Roy History Committee (editors and compilers). Homestead Shacks Over Buffalo Tracks: History of Northeastern Fergus County (Montana), (Bozeman, MT: Color World Printers, 1990), pages 1-533
US, City Directories, 1822-1995, 1947 Harve, MT (Beck, Lillian)
US, New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, 1929 Akerlund, Lillian